Experiment X
by Axellia
Summary: Not all mutants were born mutants. Some were created.
1. Chapter 1

_The plot bunnies hit me with this whilst I was writing another fic. Unfotunately, they wouldn't let me continue with it until this had been written. So I wrote it..._

_I've not written an X-men fic before so apologies if it isn't up to scratch!_

_This takes place some time after X2, but before X3._

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**Seventeen years ago…**

'Do you have enough samples?'

The assistant nodded, 'all five samples, as you requested.'

'And the adamantium-x?

'The adamantium-x has surpassed all tests so far.'

'The embryo?'

'The embryo's DNA is exceeding that of the father's.'

'And you are sure it will survive the gene splicing.'

'Sir, the procedure is a lot more complicated the merely _gene splicing_. It requires-'

'Save it, Goran.'

'Yes, sir. Sorry, sir.'

'Commence Experiment X.'

Striker watched as the scientists began working on the embryo in front of him, and smiled.

**Seven years ago.**

Experiment X was crouched in a tree, scanning the area, waiting for any sudden noise. She had just completed four hours of intensive study. Intensive meaning the computer had begun filling her mind with information. At the age of five, she could speak thirteen languages, knew how to fight in seven different styles, and knew every military formation from the US and Russia.

By seven, she could fly every type of military aircraft in the US Air Force, could dismantle and rebuild any gun in the arsenal in less than three minutes, and could hit a bulls-eye on a target from two miles away.

By nine she had killed forty seven men for her country. By nine, she had killed three hundred and ninety-one mutants for her country.

Currently, she was training in a specially designed computer stimulation programme, much like the Danger Room currently owned by the group of mutants known as The X-Men. Military surveillance had ensured a copy of the plans to that.

Behind her a twig snapped.

Experiment X back flipped out of the tree and landed silently, twenty four feet below on the ground. She brought her left leg in and stood, her green eyes narrowing to survey the area. She could sense her advisory to her right.

The gun clicked.

Experiment X held her hand up as the gun fired a solitary shot, shooting her own retaliation from her hand. A blast of energy. The bullet crumbled before it got within six feet of its target.

She pushed her feet off and flew into the air, hovering above her spot, and then she attacked, swooping in.

The soldier was ready, and the two initiate a violent hand-to-hand combat.

Experiment X blocked all his hits expertly, before sending in her own. A blow to the head, a jab in the side, another blow to the face, before finishing with a vicious spinning kick.

As the target fell to the floor, another hostile attacked. Or at least tried. Experiment X sent a larger energy bolt towards the man. It exploded on impact, destroying its target, much like the bullet.

Experiment X paused. Not because she was tired – no, just looking at her one would not be able to tell she had even exerted any form of energy. But rather because she could sense that she was surrounded.

As the eight men around her opened fire, Experiment X created a shield – a force field - around herself, allowing the bullets to ricochet off. But not before one hit her, penetrating her stomach and exiting the other side.

Experiment X winced, but before her blood could drop to the floor, the wound had healed.

Closing her eyes, Experiment X unleashed her final attack. The shield glowed a brilliant blue before it shot out. The force field killed everything in its path – men, trees and animals – in a twenty foot radius.

'ENOUGH!'

The surroundings changed, reverting back into a large metal room.

'What happened?' The voice bellowed through the speakers.

Experiment X looked up to the observation room where Striker was watching her. She could see the veins pumping at his temples.

'I am sorry, Sir.'

'You were hit.'

'Sorry sir. It won't happen again.'

'Damn straight it won't. Now, run the programme again.'

The scenery changed. This time, Experiment X was stood in the middle of a desert. She grinned.

**Some time in the not too distant future.**

Billie sat drinking her beer, ignoring the attention she was receiving from the men in the bar. She was perfect. Emerald green eyes, jet-black hair which hung down her back to her waist in soft curls, full lips, all-year tan, long, athletic legs, slim waist, a pert ass and full, perky breasts. Of course, she had been created that way.

She finished the rest of the beer and threw down a few bills before pulling her black leather jacket on and leaving the bar.

She could see her breath on the cold night air as she walked over to her bike. But despite the black leather mini skirt and bodice, she didn't feel the cold.

'Where are you going princess?'

Billie ignored the man and continued to her bike.

'You all alone?'

He didn't seem to be getting the hint.

'You want a little company?'

Billie stopped and turned to smile, displaying a perfect set of white teeth, 'if you want to live, you should leave me alone.'

The drunk didn't seem to hear – either that or he chose to ignore her warning – and placed a hand on her shoulder.

Billie grabbed his hand, rammed her elbow back and hit him in the stomach, before twirling him around and snapping his arm. Before he could scream, she had spun him back so he was facing her and kicked him in the throat, the three inch silver stiletto heel of her knee length leather boots piercing his throat.

'I warned you.' She told him coldly, as she withdrew her heel and watched him fall to the ground, dead.

She bent over his body and looked in his pockets, pulling out a pair of shades and a wallet. She flicked through the wallet, her eyes hovering on the picture of him with two small girls, before emptying it of the cash.

Despite there only being a handful of stars illuminating the night sky, she put the shades on and continued walking towards her bike. She started it up, turned on the light and drove away.

A few hours later, she pulled up outside the iron gates to an enormous mansion on the outskirts of New York. She dismounted her bike and stood, staring at the house. And on the other side of the gates, was her biological father. She was here.

_Charles Xavier's School For Gifted Youngsters._

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Please let me know what you think - if it sucks, I don't mind you telling me so - that way, I can tell the plot bunnies they've eaten too many carrots!_


	2. Chapter 2

_Ok, for some reason it seemed to work with y'all... because I needed another fic to work on - bad plot bunnies! I have had a sit, and I do have an idea where this is going now though, which worries me slightly, because this combined with my other fics, is going to keep my fingers busy for a long time, writing this! It's a good job I haven't got anything to do for a while!_

_I'm not 100 percent certain on the regularity of updates - currently we're on one a day, but it might change - I promise I wont go longer than a week though!_

_Right, I'm really conscious of keeping Billie 'real' which considering she's a mutant and based on the larger than life x-men, that might be difficult, but if at any point she seems... questionable (is that the word I'm after?) please let me know. Oh, and let me know if the other characters are out there too. _

_There will be the usual parings. It's going on so it follows with X3, to an extent - the major change at the moment is that Gambit is gonna be in it - he so should have been in the film - but unlike what they had planned for the film, he's gonna follow true to his s-men cartoon character (the original series, not evolution) in that he will be an x-men, when I finally introduce him._

_Right, you've read enough of that - just one last thing (as I didn't put it at the beginning of the other chapter) xmen does not belong to me. The only thing that does is Billie and the plot... ok, the plot belongs to the plot bunnies - just Billie is mine!_

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Billie brushed her bangs out of her eyes as she walked up to the door of the mansion. She had parked her bike up underneath the name plaque, grabbed her small leather rucksack and flown over the gate.

_It's always darkest before dawn_. Billie had always been amused by that phrase, and for some reason it sprang to mind as she approached the mansion's large wooden doors. Well, the sun would be rising in a few minutes anyway.

She pushed the door open, slightly surprised that it was open, but quickly reminded herself that it was a boarding school, and there were likely to be people walking around.

The walls were wooden panelled, large, extravagant paintings adorning them. Billie stopped to look at one. It was a landscape – a lake with boats. She rolled her eyes and continued walking.

'Stop right there, bub.'

Billie looked up to the top of the stairway and sneered, 'and what? You're going to be the one that stops me?' Making enemies was not her intention, but she didn't take orders. Not any more, anyway.

'If I have to, I will.'

'I guess you're going to have to, then.'

The man jumped down from the stairs, extending three silver claws from each fist as he dropped.

Billie was ready for him, shooting an energy bolt at him. The mutant dodged it, and it collided with the banister, destroying it in the process. He charged at her and swiped. Billie leant backwards, so her knees bent and she was parallel to the ground. As the claw flew over her, she continued her momentum, performing a backflip. She landed neatly, spinning around to kick him in the back.

The mutant went flying though the front door, knocking it down as he did so.

Before he had the chance to pick himself up, Billie was out there, kicking him in the rear so he went flying off the steps and onto the gravel driveway below.

This time, he rolled over and got to his feet, spinning to meet Billie as she jumped off the steps. The claws caught her top, piercing it and connecting with the skin below. Billie ignore the pain. By the time she was on her feet and spinning to deliver another kick, the scratches healed.

The mutant paused, watching the cuts disappear, confusion and surprise adorning his face. That was his mistake. The pointed toe of Billie's boot connected with his head, and sent him reeling into the wall of the steps.

Just as Billie made her way over to finish him off, she sensed something heading towards. She stopped and set up her shield, watching the lightning bolt bounce off it. She looked up at the grey-haired mutant who was flying above her – she looked surprised that Billie had stopped the attack.

Billie glared at her, like one would a pesky mosquito, and brought back her fist, releasing it at the weather witch and sending a ball of energy at her. Before it could connect, it was blasted out of the way by a red energy beam.

'ENOUGH!'

Billie followed the energy beam back to where it had come from and found a mutant, wearing a leather jumpsuit, similar to the flying one (minus a cape) and a visor of some description. Next to him, was a younger, blonde man, and next to him were two other female mutants. One with long dark hair, white streaks at the front, and a smaller girl. Behind them was, well, to Billie, he looked like a walking tin man.

'That is enough.'

In front of them all was a bald man in a wheelchair. The owner of the voice.

She may not take orders any more, but there was something about this guy that she was going to listen, even though she was pretty confident that she would be able to deal a fair amount of damage, should they choose to attack her. She'd already proved that.

'Logan, what is going on here?' The man in visors asked.

'She started it,' the mutant with claws responded, cricking his neck.

'I do believe you attacked me first.' Billie said, clearly.

'I asked you.'

'No, Claws, you ordered me.'

'Who are you?' That was the small girl who asked the question.

'Who are you?' Billie fired back.

'Kitty.'

'Kitty? What are you, five?' Billie rolled her eyes. Perhaps she should have followed her instinct and carried on driving. It wasn't like she wasn't able to survive on her own.

Kitty looked upset. Well, Billie wasn't here to make friends. She was going to follow her plan of becoming a mercenary, but on the way down to New York City, she had stopped outside the school, and something in her had argued with her to stay.

'Enough,' the bald man repeated.

'Do you say much else, Wheels?'

'Why are you here?' He asked her, seemingly somewhat amused.

'In all honesty, I don't really know. Making a mistake, by the looks of things.' She shrugged and turned to leave.

'You made it to the door, why not come in?'

Billie turned back, 'I made it through the door, actually. Then Claws here attacked me. Can't say I was that taken with the décor, anyway.'

"Wheels" smiled. 'What do you have to lose?'

'My sanity by the looks of things,' she muttered, eyeing up the wary mutants who were returning the gesture. She sighed and flew up so she was stood in front of them. 'Lead the way, then. Time is money.

The man in the wheelchair smiled.

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'Welcome to my school for gifted youngsters.' The professor finished after telling her their names.

So he was Charles Xavier, then. 'You mean a school for mutants,' Billie corrected. She was leaning against a fireplace staring at her nails whilst the eight mutants watched her.

Xavier smiled. It seemed to be an annoying habit of his. 'Yes, mutants. Like you.'

Billie dropped her hand and stared Xavier straight in the eye, 'no. I'm something else.'

Xavier raised an eyebrow. 'And what would that be?'

Billie shrugged and returned her attention to her nails.

'Do we not get to know your name?' Billie looked up and at the mutant who had spoken – Bobby.

'Billie,' she told him, shortly. She glanced over at Scott who was staring out of the window, not really paying any attention to what was being discussed. 'What's the deal with Shades over there?'

'Why are you here, Billie?' The professor asked, ignoring her question.

Billie shrugged, 'curiosity.'

'And what are your intentions now?'

Billie shrugged again, 'continue to the city – sell myself to the highest bidder.'

The room looked a little shocked. 'Would you not rather stay here for a while, rather than turn to a life of prostitution?'

'Who said anything about prostitution?' Billie asked, pulling a face, 'I intend on doing what I do best.'

'And what would that be?' Logan growled.

'Killing people,' she told him simply.

The professor looked sad, 'you are capable of so much more,' he told her.

Billie rolled her eyes, 'I'm good at it. And I enjoy it. Why would I want to do something else?'

'How old are you?' Ororo asked in horror.

'A few months short of seventeen. Got a problem with that?'

'Where was your childhood?'

'Spent preparing me for the real world,' Billie told her coldly.

'Ladies,' Charles interrupted, 'I feel that it is too early an hour to continue with this conversation. Classes will be starting for the day in a few hours. Billie, we're not going to force you to stay, but as you don't have anywhere specific to go, why don't you stay here for a while.'

Billie stared at him and then shrugged, 'why not. I could use a shower.'

Charles smiled warmly at her before turning his attention to the other mutants, 'Kitty, why don't you show her to the spare room on your floor?'

Great. She was stuck with her, was she? Billie picked up her rucksack and followed the smaller mutant out of the office.

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_I'll be updating soon! Please continue to let me know - I am a little unsure of this one!_

_Maid of the Mer, Summer K, tobeme, Maraena, fushiareceero, blondy-10-22 - thank you all for the reviews! I hope this chapter has lived up to any expectations!_


	3. Chapter 3

_Celtic Cross - wow, thank you! I'm glad you are enjoying it!_

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Billie surveyed the room. It was big and airy, and clearly got the afternoon sun. She turned around and shut the door on the annoying pipsqueak who had been babbling at her the entire walk to the room. She seemed to have forgotten that half an hour ago she would have quite willingly broken her neck.

And then she phased through the door.

'You don't get a hint, do you?'

'You don't have many friends, do you?'

Billie shrugged, 'friends are a weakness for your enemies to exploit.'

Kitty frowned, 'where did you learn that?'

'Seriously, get lost.'

Kitty turned and walked through the door, throwing Billie a hurt look as she did.

It was lost on Billie as she slung her bag on the bed and pulled out a fresh bodice and skirt. She laid them on the bed before stripping off. She had no intention of sleeping – she was capable of going several days with minimal sleep. She turned the water on, not caring what temperature it was. Another of her gifts meant that her skin had a very strong aversion to temperature. She could be naked in the artic, or be wearing a hundred sweaters in the desert and not bat an eye.

The water washed away the blood which had dried to her stomach – any remaining indicator that she had gotten injured down the drain. She frowned. It had been a long time since she had been injured in battle. Logan wasn't a bad fighter. Having said that, if she'd have carried on, he would have been dead by now.

She stepped out of the shower and wrapped a towel around her. Outside of her door, she could hear noises as the surrounding rooms began to awaken for a new school day, oblivious to what had happened less than an hour earlier.

Billie lay down on her bed and stared at the ceiling. She wasn't tired, but she'd be damned if she was going to wander around when the hallways were so busy. She figured she'd give it a couple of hours and everyone would be in class.

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She was right.

Billie headed down the recently destroyed stairs, dressed in exactly the same outfit as earlier, to find the kitchen. It didn't take her long – she followed her nose. Only it wasn't empty. Sat eating a bowl of cereal was the blonde mutant from earlier – Bobby.

'Hi,' he said, watching her move around the kitchen.

Billie ignored him and went straight to the fridge, 'where's the beer kept in this place?' She asked him after rooting through the fridge.

Booby raised an eyebrow, 'you're not old enough to drink.'

Billie turned around, allowing the fridge to slam shut behind her, 'does this face look remotely bothered to you?'

Bobby shrugged, 'but it's 10am.'

Billie rolled her eyes, 'and?'

'You do realise that you're in a school, don't you?'

'That's exactly why I want a beer,' she told him.

Bobby smiled, 'sorry, but you're out of luck.'

'Figures,' she muttered. She jumped up onto the counter in front of Bobby and crossed her legs. 'So, Bobby, why aren't you in class?'

'Free period.'

'I see they don't teach you much here,' she muttered.

Booby looked up at her, 'they teach you normal subjects and how to control your powers, but more importantly, they teach you morals and ethics,' he told her, glaring pointedly at her.

'Uh huh,' Billie said, rolling her eyes, 'and what powers have you got?'

Booby stared at her for a moment longer, before placing his hand on the table. As he took his hand away, an ice apple was left sat on the table.

'Oh great, I'm sat talking to a human popsicle.'

'You're not really a people person, are you?' Bobby shot at her.

Billie shrugged, 'can't say that I am, no.' She jumped off the counter landing neatly on the floor.

There was a small pop and a blue mutant suddenly appeared in, complete with another mutant – a human with red-brown hair and a long trench coat, unlike the blue fur ball who had transported them there.

Billie, who, trained to expect the unexpected, merely raised her eyebrows at the two newcomers and the smell of brimstone assaulted her senses.

'Was there any need for that, mon bête. We only had to walk down the hall,' the red haired mutant complained, his accent thick with a Cajun twang, as he pushed himself away from the blue devil.

'Sorry, mein freund,' said the blue thing, 'but the professor wanted us to hurry.'

'I don't think he had that in mind,' the red head said, before straightening up and finally noticing the other two mutants in the room. He stood there, staring at Billie, almost transfixed with the genetically modified piece of perfection. 'Bonjour,' he said to her, bowing his head. He reached for her hand and pressed his lips against it.

Billie wrenched her hand from his and slapped the mutant across the face, 'don't touch me,' she told him.

The red head rubbed his cheek, a smirk on his face, 'you must be Billie.'

'Congratulations. Your observational skills are top notch,' she told him dryly. 'Do I get names, or am I going to stick with furball and cocky?'

The blue mutant stepped in front of 'cocky' and bowed, 'Guten tag, I am Kurt Wagner. But in the Munich circus, I was known as The Incredible Nightcrawler.'

Billie eyed him up and down, 'yup, furball.' She turned to the other mutant, 'and you?'

'Remy Lebeau, at your service.'

'Yup, cocky will suffice there, too.'

'You really don't have people skills, do you?' Bobby muttered.

Billie shot him a glare. 'What do I need people skills for? I kill _people_.'

'You're a little firecracker, aren't ya?' Remy quipped.

'You have no idea,' Billie muttered darkly, before turning to leave.

'Bitte,' Kurt started.

'Verlassen Sie mich allein. Ich bin mit dies gebohrt,' she shot over her shoulder, leaving the kitchen.

Remy and Bobby looked at Kurt.

'The frauline is bored.'

Remy laughed and shot out of the door after her. 'Hold up, mon chere.'

'What now?' She asked, letting out an exasperated sigh.

'The Professor wants you to go to the danger room.'

Billie licked her lips and smiled, 'the danger room, eh?'

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_I'm actually enjoying writing this, so I may even update again! Let me know what you're thinking - I can't get better if you don't tell me what to improve on._


	4. Chapter 4

_Adriana - Wow! Thank you so much. That really made me smile!_

_princess moon shadow - After being raised by Styker, I figured she would have to be. As for my language skills, they are pretty appauling - I'm better at the latin based ones, but I'm going to give it a go anyway._

_Little-Delia - I caught a few of those episodes, but it always seemed to clash with the New Yankee Workshop - Dad's choice, so I never saw too much. I'd forgotten about that show, actually. Thank you! And I hope I haven't kept you waiting too long on an update._

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Billie was sat in the lotus position on the middle of a city street. She had been informed that the Danger Room was just that – dangerous (she'd fought hard to fight back the laughter at that one) – and that they were running a new training programme which was set to a 'difficult' level and should she find it too hard, all she had to do was say stop.

As she sat annoyed at all the tests they had just run on her, she caught the sound of a stone skitter across the asphalt. Her eyes flew open and she slammed her elbow back. As it connected with something firm, yet fleshy, she brought her fist up so that also connected with her attacker. Her attacker stumbled backwards and she used the opportunity to jump to her feet. It was a mutant which looked like a blue version of the beast from _Beauty and the Beast._

It recovered quickly, and was joined in a fist fight against her by the tin man, Colossus. She blocked all the attacks from both mutants until Colossus manage to hit her in the stomach. She flew backwards into a building, feeling some of the brick crack and crumble around her. She also felt her metal ribs puncture her lungs as she fell to the ground. Within seconds, it was healed and she was on her feet.

Focusing her attention on the blue beast, who was more nimble than the tin man, she charged at him and rammed her fist into his chest. He coughed and spluttered before disappearing.

Before Billie could revert her attention to the tin man, she sensed something coming towards her and dropped to the floor in a split. It was a charged card which, when it hit the building behind, exploded, sending dust and rubble everywhere.

Billie glanced at where it had come from – Remy. So that was his power? He didn't seem to want to get too close and used his vantage point of up on a building as a place to try and hit her with sniper attacks, sending a quick succession of cards her way. Billie jumped out of the way to avoid them in a series of back flips. As she righted herself, Colossus' fist rammed back into her chest.

As the punctured lungs once again healed themselves, she spun around and kicked the tin man in the head, ducking another card in the process. Colossus reeled as her boot connected, but only slightly. It was clear that physical fighting was not what was going to beat him. Instead she timed it so that it was Gambit's card which destroyed him.

Colossus vanished in a blast of smoke and Billie turned her attention to Gambit. She ran up the side of the building he was stood on (using her powers of flight) and, as she leapt over the wall, smacked him in the head with her toe. Gambit reeled backwards, but quickly recovered, pulling a stick out from under his cloak.

The two battled it out – Billie blocking the attacks with her arms – each time the stick connected it broke the blood vessels beneath her skin, and just as quickly as they broke, they healed themselves.

Finally, Billie grew bored. She once again dropped to the floor in a split and punched. Gambit dropped the stick and stumbled backwards clutching at his groin as he gasped in pain. As he caused no threat, Billie took her time getting to her feet, before performing a spinning kick to send him flying off the building. However, before he hit the floor, Nightcrawler appeared out of nowhere, grabbed him, and transported him to the roof of another building.

Billie shot a glare and was about to fly over, when she had to perform another series of back flips to avoid both lightning bolts from Storm in the air, and the optic blasts from Cyclops, who was stood on another building. The pissed off feeling increased as Gambit joined in, in firing the charged cards at her.

Running out of space on the roof, she ended up performing a back flip off the building. She landed neatly on the ground some thirty-something storeys below her and took up firing her own blasts back upwards in an attempt to stem the shots at her. It worked, until the Iceman sent a shard of ice at her, which lodged into her shoulder. She ducked down behind a car, just long enough to pull it out, before leaping out of the way as the car exploded behind her.

As she rolled neatly out of her landing, she found herself face to face with Wolverine. 'Back for more?' She grinned, before launching into a tirade of attacks at him, all the while, avoiding the lightning, charged cards, optic blasts, ice shards, and his claws. Wolverine showed no signs of tiring – it was like he had held back on her earlier –and like herself, with every powerful blow she unleashed on him, he also healed himself.

Feeling increasingly pissed off, and also growing bored of the situation, she flew up in the air and created her blue shield around herself. Every attack bounced of the ball encompassing her. She closed her eyes and sank to the ground. As she opened them again, the shield shot out, annihilating everything around her. The mutants disappeared and the buildings came crumbling around her – the stone and rubble bouncing off the shield.

Except it wasn't over. As she dropped her shield and turned around, she found Kitty and Rouge phasing back into a solid form. That was new – no one had survived that attack before. She cocked her head at the two girls. 'Are you all that's left?' She laughed.

Rogue pulled off a glove and walked over to Billie. As Billie swung at her, Kitty grabbed Rouge, making Billie's fist swing through the girl. 'Well that's not fair,' she said in surprise.

As soon as she had passed through her, Kitty let go of Rouge, and Rogue clamped her hand on the back of Billie's neck.

Billie could feel the power seeping out of her. She let out an energy ball at Kitty, who, not expecting it, disappeared as it connected.

Billie sank to the floor. As the world grew darker, she created one last shield and sent the attack out. It barely extended, but it was enough. Billie passed out as Rouge vanished.

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_Updates now depend on my internet, rather than me writing. Hopefully, I will have another chapter up tomorrow morning! Thanks for reading!_


	5. Chapter 5

_Celtic Cross - thank you. I really enjoyed writing it, so I'm glad you like it._

_princess moon shadow - your brother was right! Except I stuck with the French for an easy grade._

_Adriana - yay, I'm glad you like it, and Billie._

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Billie awoke feeling like crap. However, she didn't open her eyes, and instead listened to the person walking around the room she was in – their large, bare feet slapping across the floor. They got closer and stopped next to her bed. Her arm shot out and grabbed the arm that was hovering above her. Billie's eyes shot open and she found herself holding a blue, furry hand which was holding a stethoscope.

She traced the hand back to its owner. It was the blue beast.

'Those are some quick reflexes you've got there.'

Billie pushed the hand away and pushed herself into a sitting position as the beast-come-doctor backed away. 'Where am I?' She demanded.

The beast looked away, 'my dear, you should cover yourself up.'

Billie glanced down. Her sheet had slipped down as she sat up, and she was naked and exposing herself. Not taking her eyes of the doctor, who was still averting his eyes, she hopped of the table, putting it between her and the beast. 'Where are my clothes?'

'I'm afraid they were pretty damaged in the fight. There are, however, some spare clothes in the locker over there.' He told her, all without looking.

Still keeping her eyes on him – she had been taught to never turn her back on someone she didn't trust regardless of the situation – she backed up to the locker he was referring to, and only then did she drop her stare. She pulled out a pair of navy sweat pants and a navy hoody (an x on the breast) and pulled them on.

'Where am I?' She repeated when she was dressed.'

'Rogue's power is that she takes the life force, and the power if of a mutant, with her touch. Whilst the real Rogue would now have your memories running around her, that was a computer simulation. However, the computer is designed to mimic whichever mutant is programmed into it, which is why you can get hurt. In this case, she drained you of your energy.'

'That still doesn't answer my question.'

The beast laughed, 'no, my dear, it does not. This is the recovery room. And I must say, you have had one of the quickest recoveries I have ever seen.'

Billie shrugged, 'and?'

'I meant nothing by it.' He filled in something on his chart, 'now, if you would like to make yourself comfortable, I have to see the professor. I shall return for you shortly.'

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'She is unique.'

'I thought we were all unique?' Asked Storm.

Hank McCoy stared around the room. Logan, Scott, Ororo, Rogue, Bobby, Kitty, Peter, Kurt, Remy, and Charles were all dotted around the room listening to his analysis of the new mutant. He nodded, 'we are. However, this child is something else.'

'That's what she said, Dr McCoy,' said Kitty, earnestly.

Hank smiled at the youngest female. 'Perhaps I should explain.' He switched on a monitor and pulled up a picture of a DNA strand. 'Humans and mutants are born with 23 pairs chromosomes – the 23rd of which determines the sex of the person. The DNA-'

'Dr McCoy, we've all taken the biology lessons,' Bobby interrupted. 'We know this.'

'Very well,' nodded Hank, a little put out at being interrupted, 'whereas what makes us a mutant is a gene, for Billie, it is a chromosome. She has on extra – a 47th.'

'Hank, that is impossible,' scoffed Storm.

'Normally, yes. There is no way someone like Billie could be born that way.'

'Then way are you saying? That she was created?'

Hank nodded. 'Technically, she is not human, and she is not a mutant. She is, as she claims, something else.'

'If that is the case, then what was she created for?'

'I would have thought that was obvious,' said Logan, 'she was made to be the killing machine she is.'

Again, Hank nodded, 'quite.'

'Well, we can't have a killing machine in the school. That's just dangerous!' Storm cried.

'Are you suggesting we turn the child away, Storm, so she might continue with what she was going to do?' The professor calmly asked her.

'Professor, she is a danger to the other children.'

'I don't think she is,' said Peter.

The room turned to look at him, 'well, yes, she's clearly capable of killing pretty much everything in her path, but she knows how to control her powers.'

'Peter's right,' agreed Kitty, 'surely if we just show her that there's no reason to kill, she'll be fine.'

Hank smiled, 'you have taught a wonderful group of students, Charles.'

Charles smiled at his students, feeling proud, 'you are right, as always, Hank.'

'So she stays?' Kitty asked.

'Yes,' agreed Xavier.

From the corner Logan laughed, 'she'll only stay if she wants to.'

Hank nodded, 'that's true. However, I feel there may be a good reason for her to stay.'

'And what might that be, bub?'

'Whilst obviously not the same, she shares 23 chromosomes with you.'

'That's impossible. I don't have a kid,' Logan growled.

'Logan, she has the same regenerative powers as you do,' muttered Rouge.

'Actually, hers are better – she was created to be better – but it's not only the regeneration she shares with her father.'

'She has the same attitude problem,' Scott said from by the window.

Logan shot him a dark glare, and was about to retort to the comment when Hank stopped him.

'Her skeleton is also infused with adamantium. Or at least, a more sophisticated version of adamantium.'

'Are you saying she's the creation of Stryker?'

'It would appear so.'

'So how come she does have claws, or even nails, like that Deathstrike chick?'

'The adamantium is there to strengthen her bones. Similar to Mr Rasputin here, the metal gives her added strength.'

'What do you mean, a more sophisticated version?' Charles asked.

'When Logan was injected with the adamantium, he was already an adult – no growing left. Billie is still a child, and I suspect the metal was there when she was born. Which means that the metal is almost organic. It is growing as she does.'

'Is this possible?'

'I have heard rumours of this having been created, but never seen the evidence. I shall return to my office and revise all files I have on Stryker and Alkali Lake.'

Hank left the room, deep in thought, before anyone could say goodbye.

'Mr Wagner,' said Charles, 'would you be so good as to get Billie for us?'

Kurt nodded and vanished in a puff of smoke.

Charles turned to the rest of the room, 'I feel this is something which should be discussed with just Billie, Logan and I.'


	6. Chapter 6

_princess moon shadow - yay, thank you!_

* * *

'Touch me again, furball, and there will only be one place you vanishing to,' Billie cried, jumping away from Kurt. She swung her fist at him, but it missed as he vanished again, only for the fist to be caught by Logan.

'Oh, it's you,' she said coldly, glaring at him. 'Are you going to give me my hand back, or am I going to have to fight you for it?' She asked when he didn't drop it.

'Billie, would you care to have a seat?'

Billie yanked her arm free and turned to face the professor. 'I'll stand.'

The professor nodded, 'Billie, you have a remarkable power within you. Far greater than many I have seen before.'

Billie shrugged, 'yeah. I know. I told you, I'm something else.'

'That you are,' Charles agreed, 'I would like to offer you a place, here at my school.'

'No thanks,' she told him, cutting him off, 'I have an education, and I know exactly what I need to survive, including my own set of morals and ethics.'

'You ever considered your morals and ethics are a bit screwed up?' Logan growled.

Billie spun around, hands on hips, 'they've been doing me fine for the past seventeen years, thanks.'

'Yeah, well, when all you've known is Stryker, they're gonna be messed up.'

'What do you know about Stryker?' She demanded.

'Billie,' the professor interrupted, 'why did you come here?'

'I told you, I was passing by on the way to New York City.'

'Yes, but what made you stop?'

Billie shrugged, 'curiosity?'

'Curiosity over your father?' Charles psychically projected into her head.

'What do you know about that?' Asked Billie, her eyes narrowing.

'Enough to know you've met him,' he projected.

'You're not my father, quit with that trick. Besides, I was born in a tube.'

'You're right, I'm not,' projected the professor. 'But Logan is.' He said aloud.

'This jerk?'

'Less of the jerk, bub.'

'Billie, you share the same DNA. Like you, he has a regenerative power, and his body is also coursed with adamantium.'

'That figures,' Billie muttered. Without looking at either of them, Billie turned and started to leave.

'Billie,' the professor called, 'aren't you tired of running? Stryker is gone, and you have nowhere to go. You stopped here for a reason – why not give us a try. You may be surprised.'

Billie slammed the door behind her.

'Well, that went well,' muttered Logan.

'Yes,' said the professor, cheerfully.

'What are you so happy about?'

'I read her mind. She's staying.'

------------------------------------------------------------------

Billie stormed into her bedroom, slamming the door behind her. She was glaring out of the window, when Kitty phased through the door.

'You're staying then?'

Billie spun around, 'enter that door one more time with out knocking, and I'll hit you so hard, you'll phase your ass into tomorrow.'

Kitty frowned, 'you don't have to be so mean, you know.'

Billie rolled her eyes, and turned her attention back to outside.

'Some of us are going to the mall. Would you like to join us?'

Billie turned her head and arched her eyebrows, 'I'll give you three guesses.'

'Cool, well, Bobby's going to drive the SUV. He's getting the keys off Scott, so can you be ready in ten?'

'It's clear that you don't have any psychic powers.'

'Well the other optionsare to either sulk in here, or watch TV with the younger kids,' Kitty finally snapped.

Billie smiled, 'so that's where your temper is. I like it. Fine, I'll be downstairs in ten.'

She was down in six, dressed back in a black leather bodice, short black leather skirt, and her knee high boots. As she leant against the wall, waiting for Kitty, Storm appeared and headed over.

'Take this with you,' she said, handing over a roll of money.

'What's this for?'

'The professor has a fund for those who come here with nothing.'

'I haven't come here with nothing.'

'Well, you'll need to find something a little more appropriated to wear around here. This is a school, not a bar.'

Storm was saved from a verbal attack by Kitty, who chose that moment to appear.

'Bobby's ready,' she said, flicking her eyes between the two.

Finally Storm stepped back, 'enjoy yourselves.'

Kitty dashed happily out of the door, leaving Billie to follow, her arms crossed tightly under her breasts. Being as it was now late afternoon, there were many students around, and all stopped to look at Billie as she walked past them to the SUV. Stood by it waiting were Peter, Kitty, Bobby and Rogue – the latter two were arguing, but quickly hushed as Billie walked over.

'I'll catch y'all later,' Rogue shot at the other three and stormed off.

'Rogue!' Bobby shouted after her.

'What's her problem?'

No one responded.

'I guess that would be me, then,' she correctly guessed. She looked at the embarrassed faces in front of her and laughed, 'do you really think I care whether or not she likes me?'

'No, but if you're sticking around, then we do,' said Bobby, darkly.

'Ah, so she's your girlfriend, is she?' She laughed again, 'look, you go and chase her before she stops you from getting any, and, oh, wait... you're not getting any, anyway,' she smirked, 'don't even bother about the mall. I'll go by myself.' She carried on walking past them, ignoring the shouts behind her.

Finding her bike where she left it, she hopped on and pulled away, without wearing a helmet, before the others could catch up. She didn't need friends. She'd lasted this long, and she'd last longer. Besides, dead as he was, Stryker had been right – friends were a weakness.

* * *

_It's getting to that point where unfortunately, my updates may become a little sparse for a while - hopefully just this next week, though. Lack of internet, and mucho living out of a suitcase. But I will try! Think of this as an opportunity to let me know what you think (:p)_


	7. Chapter 7

_princess moon shadow - thank you_

_LoveToRead11 - thank you. I hope I didn't keep you waiting too long and I'm glad you're liking it!_

_Adriana - he was evil, wasn't he? And I'm happy you want more!_

* * *

Billie slung another back over her shoulder. She had been shopping in the busy mall for the best part of two hours, and despite all the bags, had barely bought anything. The correct word for how she had acquired the majority of her things was stealing.

Now, she was hungry. She headed for the food court and bought herself a large steak sandwich. She was tucking into it when someone joined her.

'Here you are, mon chere.'

Billie glanced at her watch – another thing she had stolen, 'not the best of trackers, are you? Especially considering there are three other people with you.'

'How much money did Storm give you?' He asked her, looking at the watch.

'I had some of my own.'

Gambit pulled a face, 'you can't lie to a liar.'

Billie shrugged, 'so don't ask and I won't lie.' She looked around, 'so where have the other _gifted youngsters_ gone?'

'Shopping. It's just you and me for the next hour.'

'Qu'une perspective passionnant,' she told him dryly.

'Are you going to introduce us to your new friend?'

Billie looked up and found a mutant with brown hair tipped with blonde looking down at them. Billie's eyes travelled down from his eyes to the metal Zippo lighter he was playing with.

Gambit's eyes narrowed, 'Pryo.'

'I'm not his friend.'

Pryo looked down at her and eyed her up, 'I believe Magneto was right when he said that you were something else.'

'I'd agree with him,' said Billie, calmly.

'Mon chere, I think that it is time we left,' Gambit told her, pulling her to her feet.

'Remy,' she said in a low voice, 'take your hands off of me before I remove them from your body.'

Pyro laughed, 'looks like you've lost your touch.'

Billie looked at him, 'and who exactly are you? The bad boy in school?'

'I don't go to Xavier's School anymore.'

'You probably have the right idea,' Billie muttered, gathering her belongings.

'We should leave,' Gambit repeated.

'You don't have to go with him,' Pyro calmly told her.

'Who said I was?'

'Billie?' Questioned Remy.

'I am going for a drive, if you will excuse me,' she pushed past them, ignoring Remy's shouts.

In the parking lot, she emptied her purchases into the small cubby hole under the seat and dumped the empty bags on the floor, before hopping on her bike and driving off.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

She was speeding. Nothing new there – she loved the feel of the wind blowing in her face.

And then suddenly, she wasn't. The bike just stopped. The engine was still going, but the wheels weren't, and Billie flew straight over the handlebars and skidded a good thirty feet down the asphalt. She lay there for all of thirty seconds whilst the missing piece of her head knitted itself together and her back healed itself. As soon as her spine was right, she was on her feet in a defensive stance. There were very few things that could stop her bike like that.

As the cuts, scrapes and bruises healed themselves, a third blue mutant appeared. Unlike the other two she had met, this one was a female with bright orange hair and seemed to be completely naked, short of a few strategically placed scales.

'Who the hell are you?'

The blue mutant just smiled at her.

'Not the chatty kind. Fine. I can do not chatty, either.' She charged at the mutant with a flying kick.

And then the mutant changed into her, stunning Billie long enough for her double to do a spinning kick and send Billie flying into a tree.

Billie glared at the mutant before launching herself at her and initiating a sequence of blows in a hand-to-hand combat. 'I know you don't have the best looking face, but did you have to steal mine?' She asked her between blows.

And then, as her fist was about to connect with her opponent's face, it stopped, like the bike had. Before Billie could process the thoughts which were buzzing around her head about this, she was smacked in the face by the mutant. She was flung backwards, only, instead of landing, her body just hovered there and she was unable to move.

'Another mutant with metal coursing through their body. Interesting.'

Billie followed the voice to its owner – and elderly looking man with a red suit and helmet, stood with a girl who had a similar dress style to herself and was sporting a Greek letter tattooed across herself.

Billie glared at him, 'put me down now, or regret it.'

'My dear, it would appear you've failed to notice that I have the upper hand here.'

Billie just continued to glare at him.

'I'm here to offer you a very interesting proposition.'

'It doesn't work that way,' Billie told him, calmly, before putting up her shield. It broke the hold over her that the mutant had, much to his surprise, and she dropped gracefully to the floor. She created an energy ball and launched it at him. It was deflected out of the way by a ball of fire, which, Billie discovered, had been thrown by Pyro. She frowned. 'Alright, what do you lot want?'

'You, my dear,' he informed her.

'Newsflash. Attacking someone isn't going to make them likely to go with you.' Billie rolled her eyes and turned to walk to her bike, only the other female mutant was suddenly in her face. Billie's eyes narrowed, 'I suggest you remove your ass from in front of me at the same speed you stuck it there, or I will cripple you so badly, you wont be moving anywhere for a long time.'

The mutant looked over Billie's shoulder at the other three mutants.

'Aren't you tired of running – hiding who you are?'

Billie turned back to the man and laughed, 'are you serious? I'm not running anywhere, and I'm certainly not hiding.'

'But you're not showing your true self to the world.'

'My true self?' Billie scoffed, 'that's the whole point, dumb-ass. I kill people – that's what I was trained to do. Part of that involves hiding myself. It's what keeps me alive.'

'What if you didn't have to hide yourself any longer?'

Billie folded her arms under her breast and stared at him, 'you've stopped taking some pretty important meds, haven't you?'

'My dear, just because you share some DNA with a person, doesn't mean that you have to live with them.'

'Just because you have decades on me doesn't mean you know everything.'

'You are a powerful mutant.'

Billie shook her head, 'no, I'm something else.'

He smiled, 'I am offering you a place along side me. A chance for you to take your rightful place on the evolutionary food chain.'

Billie shrugged and stepped past the tattooed mutant, 'thanks, but maybe another time.'

'You scared?'

Billie whirled back around and glared at Pyro – the person who had asked the question. He was grinning slyly at her. 'Do you like your head attached to your body?'

'Why don't you come and try something different,' said the elderly mutant, 'you never know, but you might find yourself feeling at home.'

Billie let out an impatient sigh, 'fine. But if I get bored, I'm leaving.'

* * *

_Alright, hopefully the next update wont take as long - life happened!_

_Thanks for reading!_


	8. Chapter 8

_princess moon shadow - good! I'm glad you do!_

_LoveToRead11 - lol, well, so long as you're continuing to enjoy!_

_Lupo Nero - thank you. Sorry for the long delay on the update!_

_Troo - hello! Both were results of the killer plot bunnies, so I had to follow them through. I'm glad you like this story too!_

* * *

Billie was sat in a helicopter which was being flown by the mutant she had discovered was called Mystique. Whilst sat calmly opposite Pyro, inside, she was fidgeting. Height's didn't bother her – she could fly, for crying out loud. Neither did helicopters, being as she had learnt to fly them herself by the age of seven. However, she was seated in this metal tomb, and she wasn't the one in charge of the controls.

'Callisto here tells me you have some pretty extraordinary powers, other than your father's ability to heal, and of course, the adamantium skeleton.'

Billie glared at him, 'it's adamantium-x, actually.'

Magneto's eyes widened in interest, 'oh, really. And how would that be different from the regular adamantium?'

Billie shrugged, 'same properties, only it's organic. It grows as I do.'

'Interesting,' he smiled, 'so, my dear, what would you name be?'

'Billie,' she told him.

'No, I am Magneto, this is Pyro, Callisto, and you've met Mystique,' he pointed towards the pilots seat, 'so what is your name? Your real name?'

'Bill-lee,' she said slowly, enunciating the phonetics of her name. 'It's Billie. Just, Billie. Nothing fancy, and nothing else. Just Billie.'

'Well, just Billie, welcome to the Brotherhood.'

Billie rolled her eyes at him, ignored the stares she was winning from Pyro and stared out of the window. They were flying over a forest, and she had no clue where they were.

-----------------------------------------------------

It turned out that Magneto didn't want their location to be given away, so he had set up a base in the middle of a forest. Of course, it had it's secrecy, but it also meant that there was no running water.

Being trained to take advantage of her surroundings, Billie set out to find a river or a pond – anything that was wet pretty much fit the bill. It wasn't like she had anything better to do. No sooner had the helicopter set down a clearing had it left again, this time with only Mystique on board. She was off on some top secret mission which no one seemed in any hurry to inform her of.

So Billie set out to find some water. A short time later, she came across a small pool. She stripped off and dove straight in, despite the fact she could see her breath in the air – there was a definite advantage to not feeling temperature.

She was floating on her back with her eyes closed when she heard the branches snap.

'Either get in, or piss off,' Billie called out.

'Are you kidding? The water's freezing.'

Billie opened on eye and found Pyro staring at her. 'If it was freezing, then I wouldn't be swimming in it because it would be ice.' She opened the other eye and turned herself upright to tread water, 'but seeing as you dropped out of school, it's perfectly understandable that you wouldn't know that.'

Pyro glared at her before stripping and diving in, surfacing along side her.

Billie glanced down and laughed, 'you're right, the water is freezing.'

Pyro glared at her, unable to come up with a witty comeback.

'Oh, I'm sorry. Is that a touchy subject?'

Pyro sent another glare in her direction, before resorting to dunking her. Which Billie retaliated by grabbing his legs and pulling him under with her. At which point she swam over, grabbed his face and kissed him.

The two broke away as they resurfaced. Billie grinned at Pyro's stunned face. 'Hmmm, maybe the water isn't that cold after all?' She mused.

Pyro just grabbed her face and kissed her back, much more forcefully, making his tongue glide into her mouth. His hands slid down her body exploring every perfect inch of skin.

Using her powers to keep them both afloat, Billie responded to his touch with her own hands. Soon, the water around them had risen a few degrees as the two entertained themselves.

------------------------------------------------

The sun had long since set and the two mutants had moved from the water to besides a fire that Pyro had created, for his own benefit.

Billie was lying with her back pressed against Pyro's chest playing with lighter on his wrist – the only thing either of them was wearing.

Pyro was using his free hand to run his fingers over Billie's bare skin. 'You're…' he whispered into her hair, searching for the right word.

'Perfect?' Billie offered.

Pyro smiled, 'mmmm, perfect.'

Billie spun around so that she was facing him and narrowed her eyes, 'that's because I was made to be like this.'

'What do you mean?' Pyro asked, quickly removing his roaming hand.

'I give a whole new meaning to the terms _genetically modified_ and _designer baby_.'

'You were created?'

'You think something this perfect could be natural?'

Pyro shrugged, 'coulda fooled me.'

'I wasn't lying when I said I was something else,' Billie told him. 'I was created for one purpose, and one purpose only.'

'And what was that?' Pyro asked her, staring intently into her deep green eyes.

'To kill.'

Pyro smiled, 'well,' he pushed her onto her back, 'now you have a second purpose,' he told her before climbing onto her and kissing her.

Billie kissed him back, raking her nails into his skin. Pyro gasped in pain as she flung him over so that she was on top.

'A second purpose, eh?' She bent over and kissed his neck, turning it into a bite, 'interesting,' she muttered into his skin.

-----------------------------------------------

'Wake up!'

Billie opened one eye and glared up at Magneto who was staring down at the two of them. Beneath the blanket – Pryo had been to fetch one at some point during the night – Pyro shifted, pulling himself further onto Billie so that his face was resting on her partially exposed chest, and wrapping his arms more tightly around her.

'PYRO!' Magneto shouted.

Pyro sat up in fright, finally noticing Magneto.

'Now that you've had your fun, we have work to do.' He glanced down at Billie who made no move to cover herself up. 'You too. Get dressed,' he ordered, before leaving them.

Pyro glanced down at Billie, who looked like she was about to go back to sleep. 'You could have covered yourself up, you know.'

Billie shrugged, 'the guy has got to be in his sixties, at least. You can't tell me he's never seen a naked woman before. Besides, Mystique walks around in the nude all the time.'

'You're not Mystique. And I don't appreciate the thought of Magneto looking at you like that,' Pyro told her darkly.

'Like what?'

'Like you're not mine.'

'I don't _belong_ to anyone.' Billie told him firmly.

Pyro smiled, 'you do now.' He leant back down and kissed her.

Billie pushed him away. 'What do you think you are doing?'

'I don't know about you, but it only takes me a few seconds to get dressed, which means we've probably got the best part of ten minutes to kill.'

'Sounds like a plan,' Billie told him, pulling him back to her.

* * *

_A bit of fluff for my much neglected story, although I'm not exactly sure you could call it fluff, or that Billie is capable of it yet._

_Sorry for the lack of update, but I'm busy writing the next chapter as we speak - it should be up relatively soon!_

_Thanks for reading!_


	9. Chapter 9

_princess moon shadow - thank you for the review, and I'm glad you're still reading, and enjoying!_

_luna lovegood22 - she's been genetically created - a Frankenstein of sorts - so in terms of physique and fighting skill, she is perfect. In terms of personality, she's not - she's missing a few key qualities in humanity. I had been hoping that the other chapters explained that, but obviously not clearly enough. I shall certainly work on that - let me know if I'm succeeding, or not._

_As far as X3 goes, it's not the main focus of this story. I'm using some of it, as you've, I'm sure, noticed, but I'm also making a few changes to it - I'm sure you've also noticed that too._

* * *

The job that Magneto had in mind involved rescuing Mystique. Apparently, she had only gone and gotten herself caught whilst breaking into the FDA. Which was incredibly careless in Billie's eyes. Especially as now Billie was going to have to stick her neck out.

Except, that didn't seem to be exactly what Magneto had in mind.

Mystique was being held in a mobile prison, which Magneto had managed to find the location of, courtesy of Callisto, and now he was standing in the middle of the road, waiting for said prison.

Billie was bored. From the looks of things, Magneto had it all under control as he sent the various accompanying vehicles flying across the road. Billie watched them blankly. The men dying inside the cars had no effect on her – they were doing their job, albeit badly seeing as they were now dead, and that was just one of the risks they faced.

Magneto ripped the door off the trailer of the truck, using it as a ladder into it. At the far end, smiling smugly was Mystique.

'About time.'

Frankly, Billie wanted to slap that smug smile off her face. Instead, she watched as Magneto bent the bars back and freed the female mutant. Using his powers he then picked up a clipboard and gave it to Pyro who started reading a who's who on the other occupants of the mobile prison.

As the last one was freed -Juggernaut, one of the fallen guards regained consciousness long enough to pick up his gun, firing at the party. Mystique jumped in front of Magneto saving him from the bullets.

Billie's eyes widened in surprise as she fell to the ground withering around, until she became human. 'There's a cure?' Her question remained unanswered as Magneto swept out of the trailer leaving a shocked Mystique lying on the ground.

At any other time, Billie would have smiled at the sight, but frankly, she was in shock over the fact there was something that could change a mutant into a human. She stormed after Magneto, 'how long have you known there was a cure?' She demanded.

Magneto turned to answer her, only he stopped, his eyes settling on something on Billie's shoulder. Billie looked around, seeing the same expression on every one else's faces, and looked down. Sticking out of her shoulder was a solitary syringe. She glanced down and flicked it off her as if it were nothing more than an annoyance.

Magneto sighed, 'it's a shame to loose two good mutants in one day.' He turned and started to leave, but Callisto stopped him.

'She still has the same power signals.'

Magneto stopped and turned back, 'you really are something else.'

'You were going to leave me?' Billie asked incredulously.

'I'm sorry, my dear.'

Billie fought with every inch of her being not to slam her fist through his face. That wasn't part of the plan.

------------------------------------------------------

'You were going to leave me too, weren't you?' Billie asked Pyro when they returned to the forest.

Pyro shrugged, 'you weren't affected.'

Billie took a step towards him, closing the gap between them, 'that is not the point,' she spat at him.

'You cannot possibly be trying to convince me that you have some feelings for me.'

Billie glared at him, 'I don't like being used.'

'Like you weren't using me?' He scoffed, 'you'd known me for what? All of an hour before you jumped me. I wouldn't be surprised if you've done that with everyone you've ever met.'

He was rewarded for that remark with a very vicious slap to the face. Billie turned on her heel and stormed off, back to the pool.

She walked out so that she was stood in the middle of the water on the water's surface. If she had to power to destroy things with a look, there would be a plenitude of trees missing from around the pool at that point. True, she had, in the past, slept with men to get what she needed, whether it be temporary asylum, or closer to a target. And she couldn't say that what had happened with Pyro had been nothing short of lust. She was a teenager, after all, and she did have desires, occasionally.

So why was she so pissed off?

She didn't have time to contemplate the answer as there was a small _puff_, a whiff of brimstone and a hand clutching her wrist, before she blinked and was no longer standing on water, but in some aircraft. With lighting fast reflexes, she turned around and hit at the mutant who had transported her, sending him flying into the wall.

'Billie!'

Billie turned back and sent her fist into the side of Logan's head. For any normal person, the force from the impact would probably have knocked their head off. Not Logan.

She watched as he cricked his neck and returned the glare she was sending him. 'Did no one ever teach you that you shouldn't hit your parents,' he asked her.

'You are not my father,' she shot at him.

'I think that you'll find that the DNA results will tell you otherwise.'

'I think you'll find that taking me against my will makes you nothing more than a kidnapper,' she retorted.

'SIT YOUR ASS DOWN, RIGHT NOW!' He bellowed at her.

Billie folded her arms under her breasts and glared defiantly at him, not moving from the spot.

Logan threw his hands up in the air, 'we save your ass and this how you behave.'

'I didn't need saving, Logan.'

'You're seventeen – you don't know what you need,' he turned around and stormed off to what Billie assumed was the cockpit – not that this aircraft was looking familiar to her.

'Es tut ich Leid,' Kurt offered, holding his hands out as a gesture of goodwill.

'Did you actually have any choice in the matter?'

'Ich wurde gefragt, habe ich eingehalten.'

'Is there a reason why you speak to me in German?'

'Because, mein freund, you understand what I say, and it is nice to be able to speak in my native tongue.'

'You could have just asked me, you know?' Said Billie as she sat herself down in one of the chairs.

'Asked you what?'

'Wenn ich gerettet werden wollte.'

-------------------------------------------------------

It didn't take long for Logan to re-emerge from the cockpit. 'There's been a slight change of plan,' he announced, more to Kurt than Billie.

'What's happened?' Kurt asked.

'The professor – he's picked up something at Alkali Lake.'

Billie's eyes narrowed at the mention of the name, something which Logan didn't fail to miss. 'You're staying on here,' he told her.

Billie shrugged. She'd see about that.

Although Billie didn't have a clue where they were, or how far from the Lake they were, it didn't take long for her to feel the jet loosing altitude. The jet landed smoothly and the back dropped down as Storm emerged from the cockpit.

'Stay here,' Logan repeated, before leaving.

Billie waited exactly thirteen seconds before ignoring Kurt's protests and following.

The area was covered in thick fog and she could barely see more than a foot in front of her – nothing short of the small rocks and pebbles which were floating around. Billie frowned. She could sense something here – something powerful – something that could easily match her in terms of power.

* * *

_Alreety, lets get Jean back to the lab, and then I think it's time for a little bit of history, and some ice cream!_

_Thanks for reading - lemme know what you think!_


	10. Chapter 10

_It's been quite a while with this story... life got in the way! I'm attacking it slowly, so keep with me!_

_I just want to say thank you for all of the reviews - the good, the bad, and the ugly! I appreciate all the comments made! Love to you all!!_

* * *

'I thought I told you to wait on the jet?' Logan's voice came floating through the mist. He'd clearly sensed her, like she had him, because there was no way either was capable of seeing far.

'Yeah, well, I didn't.' Billie told him bluntly.

Wolverine let out a small growl, 'is there anything we can do about this fog, Storm?'

Billie continued to walk as the fog slowly edged away.

'You have no intention of listening to me, do you?'

Billie turned around and looked at him, 'give me something worth listening to, and I will, yeah.'

Wolverine, who was about three seconds from strangling her stormed off ahead, followed closely by the two female mutants. He led them to the shore of the lake, where, like in the woods, rocks and pebbles were floating around.

Billie stood, transfixed by them, whilst Storm headed off in one direction, Logan towards something which had caught his eye near the water's edge.

'Scott!' He shouted, 'SCOTT!'

'Well,' Billie muttered, 'if he didn't hear that, he's not going to.'

Logan shot her a silencing glare, ready for a comment, when Storm's shouts disturbed him. They both ran over the source of the shouts, and found the weather witch crouched down by an unconscious woman.

'Jean?' Logan gasped, jumping down beside her.

Billie watched as Logan scooped the red-headed woman into his arms and frowned. It wasn't because she was getting strong vibes from the unconscious woman. No, it was the look of relief on Logan's face.

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Billie strode into the kitchen, headed straight to the fridge, before slamming it shut when she remembered there was no beer in it.

'You're back then?'

'Looks like it,' she said, turning to lean back against the fridge.

'How long is it going to last this time?' Gambit asked her.

Billie sighed and glanced down at her feet, not answering.

'Come and join us,' said Kitty. She and Gambit were sat at the large kitchen table with Bobby and Peter.

Billie stared at her for the longest time, until finally, she shrugged and perched herself on the end of the kitchen counter.

'Is it true Jean's back?' Peter asked her.

'Yeah,' Billie nodded, 'she's in the medical bay.' She glanced around the table, 'where's the girlfriend?' She asked Bobby.

'She went for the cure,' Peter told her.

Billie brought her hand up to her shoulder and began rubbing the spot where the syringe had hit her, without even realising she was doing it. 'It won't work,' she told the table.

Bobby narrowed his eyes, 'what makes you so sure?'

'It's not a disease, it's not a virus – it's genetic. Its part of your DNA and it's what makes you what you are. It's like trying to stop being left handed. You can hide it for a time, but at the end of the day, you're just going to be ambidextrous.' Billie looked at Bobby – he was giving her a strange look. 'I didn't mean anything by it,' she told him, not quite sure why she was apologising for herself. 'I just… never mind.'

She shook her head and jumped neatly off the table.

Instead of responding, Bobby shot her a glare.

Billie shrugged, 'bothered.'

'How is Jean?' Kitty asked, trying to break some of the tension.

'Even if I cared enough to ask, I wouldn't get an answer,' Billie told her with a bored look.

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It didn't take long for Billie to become bored of her company and she left a while later, heading for the solitude of her room. She had been meditating, sat comfortably in the lotus position hovering slightly above the ground, when she felt it. A judder, no, more like a shockwave rippling through the house.

Semi-convinced it was one of the children unable to control their powers, she rose to her feet anyway. It was simply to powerful a shudder to be a child. Billie opened her door and headed down the corridor. As she downed the stairs, she knew that the rumble had come from further down, below the ground floor – where the danger room was located.

She was about to enter the medical room when she was stopped by Jean as she was leaving.

'You've had enough of this place too?' She asked her, her face remaining neutral.

Jean stared at her, 'I know what you're doing here,' she told her coldly.

Billie stared back, 'I don't think you do.'

'_Don't be too sure about that_.' Jean responded without opening her mouth before turning and leaving.

Billie watched her go. _A psychic?_ She thought. But as Jean left her sight she realised that the psychic wasn't going to spill her secrets. She turned and walked into the medical room. Logan was lying on the floor, unconscious, whilst various pieces of medical equipment lay strewn around him.

Billie sighed impatiently and waited.

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Billie stepped out of the car and stared at the house in front of her. Standing outside were Magneto and a few other mutants. _No Pyro_, _though_, Billie noted.

'Ah, Billie,' Magneto greeted her, as if they were old friends, as she followed Xavier over. 'We were wondering where you had gone.'

Billie shrugged at him.

'What the hell are you doing here?' Logan snarled at Magneto.

'The same as the professor,' Magneto told him, 'visiting an old friend.'

'I don't want any trouble here,' Xavier said, making a point to look at Billie.

'Nor do I,' Magneto agreed. 'Shall we?'

Charles nodded and the two of them entered the house.

'Why are you here again?' Logan shot at Billie.

'Nothing better to do,' Billie informed him, her voice and posture lazily relaxing back against the car.

Logan muttered something under his breath before heading over to Storm.

It didn't take long before the gate slammed shut in the air which was vacant of any breeze. Billie remained resting against the car. Truth be told, she had come for one reason – to assess the true power of Jean. Back at the mansion, the professor had mentioned something about Jean's alter-ego, and if she was as powerful as he said she was, then this was something she wanted to witness.

In front of her, Storm and Wolverine were arguing as to whether or not they should enter the building. As soon as the windows blew out, Logan produced his claws as Storm flew into the air. The four mutants who had come with Magneto were engaging in battle in an instant.

Billie glanced down at her nails, only looking up to crack a smile when the house began floating above the ground. This Phoenix, as Xavier had called Jean's alter-ego, sure was a powerful mutant. She would make for an interesting fight.

_Don't let them control you_ came Xavier's voice. A split second later and the house crashed to the ground.

Billie narrowed her eyes, wondering how much of her brain Xavier had been reading. However, as Magneto hurried out of the house, Jean hooked firmly under his arm, she realised that it wasn't even important anymore.

* * *

_I'm sure you've realised, but I'm not sticking completely true to the movie! And I also realise that this chapter has probably created more questions than is needed, but there we go... (:D)_


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